Top of the World

I love the part of marathon training when you start to do those really long runs.  Those long runs that very few people ever do.  I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I run over fifteen miles.  It is something that I never ever thought I could do.  A half marathon was something I could envision, something I could imagine myself doing.  But I never thought of myself as a marathoner—until I actually was one.  Sometimes I still can’t believe that I can run that far on a regular basis.

Last week, Rod told Kelly and I that we were in charge of the long run on Saturday*.  I loved finding new long runs in San Diego, but I am still somewhat unfamiliar with Orange County.  But I took on the challenge.  I wanted something coastal in case it was hot.  I did some searching online and found some possibilities.  I decided to run in the Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park to the “top of the world.”  It was an out-an-back with options for shorter loops—perfect for a group with different mileage goals.

It was the right choice.  The weather was perfect.  It was actually a bit chilly when we started around 5:45.  The marine layer was in and looked like it would stick around for a while.  I met up with Rod, Lori, Kelly and Heidi.  Heidi and Lori ran at a slower pace and ran eleven miles while Rod, Kelly and I did over seventeen.

The trail starts out as a blacktop road (or you can run alongside the road on a trail).  We noticed that it headed downhill a bit and even commented on it.  The significance of the early decent did not hit us until several hours later.

Where the main trail branches off, about 1.5 miles from the parking lot, there was a porta potty.  We stopped for a bit and then headed off into the canyon.  Here, the trail was dirt.  It was a nice, wide and as we would later discover, heavily traveled trail.  It is well marked with trail signs and mile markers.  It started to gradually climb.  We passed an old sheep corral, some caves and crossed a couple of streams.  It was a lovely trail that I really enjoyed.

A few miles in, the trail turned up to the left.  And when I say up, I mean UP.  This is called Cholla Trail and is very popular with mountain bikers (as we would later discover).  Cholla Trail was a very steep single track.  We walked a good bit of the steepest parts.  Rod is like a mountain goat and ran most of the trail.  Kelly’s and my shorter legs couldn’t scramble up the slope quite as well.  I tried to run as much as I could, but I also knew that we had a long way to go; we had only run about five miles.
At the top of Cholla, we hit the West Ridge Trail.  It went along the ridge line in rolling hills.  It was still overcast in the low 60’s—is it really July??  While the weather was perfect for running, I was a little disappointed that I never got a glimpse of the ocean, although I knew it was there.  It’s ok.  The ocean will always be there, but great runs won’t be.  I’ll take that great run over the view of the ocean any day.

When we hit the park at the “top of the world,” we had only run a little over seven miles (although mapmyrun.com told me it would be closer to eight).  We ran into the hills of Laguna Beach for a bit to get additional miles.  I knew that I wanted to get the extra mileage in the middle instead of trying to pull it out in the end.

The weather was still overcast and even a little foggy.  We stopped at the high point of the trail and took some pictures.


We started our descent.  For some reason my brain was convinced that it was downhill all the way.  Oh, how we forget those sporadic downhills on an uphill climb.  Well, I certainly noticed them on the way back.  That rolling ridgeline had quite a few steep hills.

Then we hit that steep Cholla trail.  We knew we only had a little over five miles left and our spirits were high.  I was actually feeling great.  By this time, the trail was full of people.  On the way up, we only saw a couple of people.  On the way down, we saw dozens.  The trail was obviously very popular with mountain bikers.  I knew that from my online research, but am not sure I expected so many bikers.  Luckily, they were all coming up while we were running down.  If it were the other way, there might have been some danger on the single track trail.  We would see the bikers with plenty of time and move to one side or the other, giving them room.  I know from experience how tough it is on a mountain bike if you have to stop on a steep uphill, so I wanted to give them space.

That downhill section was the highlight of my day.  I felt like I was flying.  I let gravity carry me and picked a line and went for it.  I even said, “Weeeeeeeee.”  Rod took it a little more conservatively to save his knees, but Kelly and I went for it with abandon.   It was so much fun!!

The next few miles were a blur.  There were a ton of people on the trail.  This reassured me that if we were ever to run this trail and get split up, it would be a safe trail.  There were more mountain bikers, a few hikers and several running groups.  I think there was a high school team as well.   As we approached the end of the dirt trail, Kelly started falling behind.  She urged us to go ahead so she could take a few walk breaks without feeling guilty.  Rod and I obliged and ran ahead a bit.  Sometimes Rod would run ahead of me.  We were all running our own pace during this part of the run (probably around mile 15).  It was at this point that the sun started coming out.
We backtracked a bit to check on Kelly.  She was doing well and told us to run ahead.  She told us that she would continue to run, but for us to run to the car and come back and get her at the parking lot (we had parked a bit further down the road at a strip mall).  This was the last mile and a half or so and that easy downhill that we didn’t give much thought to early that morning seemed endless.  It was a slight uphill on a blacktop road and the sun was out fully. 

I was ready to be done and pushed the pace a bit.  The last two miles or so were the fastest of the day.  I ran mile 17 at 9:11.  The last .72 was run at a 8:41 pace!  I was very tired at the end, but felt GREAT.  It was probably the best run I have had in months.  Heidi and Lori were waiting for us at the end (they had run eleven miles).  Heidi commented that she had never seen me that out of breath and sweaty.  It was exactly how I wanted to feel.  We ran 17.72 miles in just over three hours**.  That is around 10:20 per mile for a hilly trail!!  Go us!

It was a tough run, but one of my favorites.  It was a beautiful trail, which is a nice change from pavement.  Almost all of my long runs during my previous marathon training has been on roads, sidewalks and bike paths.  Changing it up and running the long ones on the trails is going to help me avoid long run burnout.  I am looking forward to the next one!!

Elevation profile for Saturday’s run.

* It has been such a crazy week that it has taken me almost an entire week to write about Saturday’s run!  Bad blogger!!
**We figured that Kelly ran right about seventeen miles.  That is AWESOME!!

A carcass, a long run and a small world…

I had a long run planned for Saturday.  It was the first really long run in a while.  Ironically, even though I have been putting in a lot of miles lately, I haven’t run anything longer than thirteen miles in months.  In fact, since my last half marathon on June 5, the longest run I have done is ten miles.  So sixteen miles was a big jump for me. I was actually a little nervous.

I had a very fitful night’s sleep.  I was alone in the house as my husband was out of town and my kids were spending the night with their cousin, so I could run early.  I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I was alone in the house at night.  Around 1:30 a.m. the cat started meowing loudly.  I woke up to check on her.  This meow sounded like her hunting triumph and I expected to see her with her prey.  She was just looking at me….no prey in her claws.  I checked her bowl and it was empty, so I assumed that she was just hungry.  Feeling guilty for letting it run out, I opened up a special can for her and went back to bed.

A few hours later, I woke up without my alarm (which I had set incorrectly) about 20 minutes later than I would have liked.  As I walked into the living room, I saw what I should have seen earlier—a dead RAT.   Arrrrgggghhhhh.  Damn cat!  What is worse is that she brought that thing through the dog/cat door IN.MY.ROOM.  Ack.  The worst thing is that when I didn’t see it in the middle of the night, I rewarded her with some canned food!!!   She thinks she brought me a prize.  One thing you have to know about me is I. HATE. DEAD. CRITTERS.  I can deal with poop, puke etc.  I can unclog a stopped up toilet and clean up after a sick kid.  I cannot deal with the carcass of a dead rodent.  It gives me chills just writing this.  So here I am, alone in the house with my husband five hours away.  I HAD to deal with this before leaving for my run.  If I left it a) the cat would eat it (shudder) or b) it would start to smell.  I grabbed the pooper scooper from the back yard and psyched myself up enough to roll the thing onto the poop shovel and heave it over the back wall into the common area where a vulture or something would take care of it (or the HOA gardeners…LOL).  That threw my pre-run routine out the window.  I didn’t get to eat my English muffin with peanut butter.  I think that affected me later.

We finally made it down to the Huntington Beach pier around 6:20 (Kelly had issues in the morning, as well).  I was really tired and not feeling great, but I was looking forward to the run along the ocean.  As we started out, I felt great.  It was an absolutely gorgeous morning.  We ran south along the beach toward Newport.  We were running around a 9:30 pace for quite a ways.  After a while (around six or seven miles, I think) I noticed that Kelly was having a harder time talking.  I knew that keeping up that pace would wear her out sooner than she wanted.   I was getting a bit tired, so I decided to slow a bit.  We let the guys go on ahead while we slowed down.

We turned around at eight miles, which meant going into the neighborhoods of Newport/Balboa after the boardwalk had ended.  Kelly wanted to make sure we went that far instead of trying to make up the rest at the end after the pier.  She knew that once we got back to the pier, she would be done.  It turns out, running out to eight miles out is the only way I would have run sixteen as well.  I would have stopped well short of that point had I reached the pier before sixteen miles.
   
I had run out of Gu and grabbed random fuel from a box in my pantry where I keep samples etc. for the run that morning.  I ate an Accel Gel around 5 miles, which did not taste particularly good.  It is way too sweet and I had to gag it down.  Around ten miles, I needed something else.  I had a pack of Clif Shot Bloks that I had received in a race bag.  It was pina colada flavored.  According to Kelly, it was the color of urine.  Mmmm….appetizing.  And it tasted like sunscreen!  I choked down two or three bloks and couldn’t eat any more.  YUCK!


Around mile 14, I was starting to drag and really just wanted to be done.  Kelly was feeling the same way.  She kept falling behind a little bit more.  I would slow down or stop and wait.  Finally, when we got on the path along PCH, she told me to go ahead.  She was fine, but she wanted to take it easy and she wanted me to finish strong.  I admit, I was wanting to push my pace a little to see if my legs could pick it up while feeling so tired.  The bike path was teeming with beach goers by this point, so it wasn’t like I was leaving her alone.  I decided to go ahead and run the last two miles at or near my marathon goal pace.  I was able to run under 9:00 miles and finished with the last part being closer to 8:30.  I am glad that I can push it even when I am under-fueled and over-tired.

Kelly came in a little bit later and we all went to Jamba Juice for post-run smoothies.  I added a protein boost to help me recover.  The rest of the group stayed at the beach for a bit, but I needed to get back to my kids.  My brother only has one child, so I know that three is a big change in their house and I didn’t want to take advantage.

Later that afternoon, I realized that, while I finished the run strong, it may have been my limit for that day.  I was worthless for the rest of the day.  I couldn’t get anything done.  I was exhausted.  My kids watched movies and vegged with me (I didn’t earn the Mother of the Year award that day). I laid down and took a nap.  I did manage to cook some dinner for all of us and then went to bed early.  I tell my clients that if you feel wasted and tired several hours after a workout, you did too much.  Hmmm…. maybe I did too much?  Luckily, I felt back to normal Sunday and had a great recovery run on Monday.  No harm done.

************************************************************************

So the day before my long run, I had one of the most incredible small world stories happen to me*.  I went to the beach with the kids along with Kelly and her kids.  We all piled in one car and drove to Corona del Mar, a great little beach with a nice easy surf for the kids. 

Because of a ridiculous amount of traffic caused by opening day of the fair, we didn’t get down there until well past noon.  The beach was already pretty crowded.  We found an empty spot, right in front of a man and his kids.  After spreading the blanket and getting some food from the cooler, I did a double take after glancing at the man.  He looked exactly like one of my blog buddies, LB from Muddy Runner!

I’ve seen plenty of pictures of him and know him through his blog.  I was 90% sure it was him.  Once he put on his Mud Run t-shirt, I was convinced.  I said to him, “excuse me, do you have a blog called Muddy Runner?”  He looked at me incredulously.  I said, “I’m Lisa from Discovering the Meaning of Stonehenge.**  He said something like, “what are the odds??!!”  Seriously.  There were thousands of people down at the beach that day.  What ARE the odds?

It was cool to see him and talk to him and put a voice with the blog.  I saw his little girls that he writes about, although they were playing in the ocean the entire time I was there.   We had waved to each other at Surf City, but have not crossed paths again, even though we live and run relatively close to one another (especially when I consider how far away some of my blog friends are).

Check out the pictures to get a picture of how crowded the beach was.  To put my blanket down right next to LB's is unbelievable.  I love fun coincidences!

 It was a fun and crowded day at the beach.

Happy Running....

*however, nothing will ever top my best small world story.  Read it here.
**I am really thinking about changing the name of this blog.  It is quite a mouthful.

Coronado Independence Day 15K Race Report

On July 4 I ran a 15K in Coronado (San Diego).  We were staying the weekend with our friends Jason and Tracy.  Tracy was running the 15K and I thought it would be fun to run it as well.  And as you know… I just can’t seem to say no to a race right now*

The race started at 7, so we thought we would get there around 6 in order to find a decent parking spot and have time before the race.  I ran this race two years ago and was able to park super close to the race area.  I must have arrived much earlier that year because when Tracy and I got there, parking was an issue.  We finally found a spot in the neighborhoods of Coronado, which was probably 3/4 mile from the park.

We picked up our race packet and were pleased to see that they had tech shirts and chips this year.  No more white cotton t-shirts and elbows at the starting line!  We made it back to the car to put our stuff in it and back to the park with plenty of time to spare.

I had run a 10k the day before and it hurt**.  I have come to the conclusion that 10ks are HARD.  I was really looking forward to this race.  I have decided that I enjoy the longer races where you can get into a groove and really feel the pace.  The shorter races seem like you have to push it the entire time.  In a 5K, if you aren’t at the puke threshold the entire time, you aren’t going to have a good time.  No thank you.

We lined up near the start.  Tracy seemed excited too.  She had run this race the previous year and really wanted to PR.  She had recently upped her mileage and was feeling good about her running.  I knew that she would run a strong race.

As they played the National Anthem, I was struck by the silence.  The song was a recording (Carrie Underwood from the Superbowl—a popular choice at these races), so it wasn’t out of respect for the singer.  All the runners, amped up for a race, were silent out of respect for our country and the flag on Independence Day.  It was amazing.  Toward the end of the song, I started hearing the familiar chatting that you often hear before a race.  But for a few moments, we heard only the song and saw the flag billowing in the slight breeze.  It was pretty cool.

I wasn’t too sure what my goal was.  It had been a whirlwind weekend with races Saturday morning then packing up to head to San Diego for an afternoon with friends.  I didn’t get a chance to research what my goal would be.  In my head, my 15K PR was 1:24.  But somewhere in the back of my mind, I kept thinking about 1:21.  It turns out that I ran the Coronado 15k back in 2008 in 1:24, but ran the Resolution Run 15k in January 2009 in 1:21.  How does someone forget their PR?  Since the 15K is never a key race for me, I have never really focused on hitting a certain time.  I decided as I was waiting for the race to start, to try to finish under 1:20.  I did some quick math and calculated that an 8:30 pace should do it.  Ironically, that is slower than my half marathon pace for a shorter race.  However, I had run hard the previous day and hadn’t had much sleep in the days prior, so I didn’t want to push too hard.

Then we were off.  The race starts on the field and merges onto a narrow bike path.  I had run this race in 2008 and knew that the first part was a bit slow, but that it opened up after getting off the bike path.  Even with the bottleneck and weaving through other runners, my first mile was 8:34.  Not bad.
There isn’t really anything special about the course.  While Coronado is a beautiful place, much of the course is not.  We run by the bay briefly and then along the golf course.  It heads down the strand, only to turn into the Navy Amphibious Base where we run through a maze of concrete.  It isn’t very scenic, but I was able to hear Reveille as the colors were raised at 8 a.m.  That was kind of cool on Independence Day.  The other significant feature of the course is that it is FLAT.  Many races tout a “pancake flat” course as a good thing.  Honestly, by the fifth mile, I was yearning for a hill, just a little hill.  Rolling hills are much more enjoyable for me than a flat course.  I LOVE running downhill and the only way to get it is to run up a few.  Flat=boring.

The course was an out-and-back.  I know a lot of runners who hate out-and-backs, but I am starting to really like them, especially when I know other runners in the field.  Before the turnaround, I saw the frontrunners.  I love cheering for them.  The first woman was WAY back, however.  I think she came in around 29th.  The group of runners around me started telling the next three or four women where they were (“you’re the third woman!!  way to go!).  I saw a fast guy running with the early pack.  He was dressed just like me!  Another member of Team Jamba!!!  He was looking really good, like he had superpowers like his shirt said.  We waved at each other and cheered.  I was bummed that I didn’t find him after the race to introduce myself.  We are on the same team, afterall.  After the turnaround, I saw my friend Tracy not too far behind me.  She looked strong and had a smile on her face.  She was having a good race.  I also saw another member of Team Jamba.  We had briefly spoken before the race, but, sadly, I forgot her name.

Even though I wasn’t pushing myself particularly hard (relative to other races I have run), by the turnaround, I was feeling pretty tired.  I have been pretty successful at my pacing lately.  I have been able to start races out at the right pace in order to speed up at the end with negative splits.  I knew by the half-way point that negative splits weren’t going to happen***.  I just wanted to maintain my pace and keep it so I could finish well under 1:20.  I had a brief chat with a couple of runners around mile 8 where we determined that we were on target for sub-1:20.

As I hit the bike path, I just wanted the race to be done.  I was done.  I was tired and quickly running out of steam.  Finally, we went onto the grass.  The announcer said, “if you can hear my voice, you are only a couple hundred yards from the finish!”  I sprinted on the grass and was happy to see 1:18 on the clock.  Overall, here are the results:
Overall:  377 out of 1163
Women: 116 out of 605
F 40-44: 17 out of 89
Age/Grade: 62.68% Place: 246
Finish: 1:18:07 Pace: 8:23
Tag Time: 1:18:07
Gun Time: 1:18:30


Tracy came in a few minutes after me and PR’d by seven minutes!  She looked very strong coming in.  She ran the race in 1:26 and kept even splits throughout.  I’m so proud of her!!  She’s another mom who has started running late in life.  Go us!
 
It was a nice race with nearly perfect weather.  We both felt really good afterward.  We went back to the car, back to her house and then to a friend’s pool party a few hours later.  We sat and ate barbecue food throughout the afternoon, knowing we had run over nine miles before the day really began for everyone else.  A great way to spend the 4th of July!

Happy Running.


*more on that in a future post.
**The 5K was run at a slower pace and was more of a cool down, so I enjoyed it more.
***mile 1—8:34
mile 2—8:08
mile 3—8:13
mile 4—8:06
mile 5—8:25
mile 6—8:24
mile 7—8:20
mile 8—8:19
mile 9—8:18
.44—7:39 pace (that weaving at the beginning gets me every time!)

Mary Castle Firecracker 10K/5K Race Report

On July 3, the community where I live had an Independence Day celebration.  They had a pancake breakfast, a dog show and fireworks.  They also had a 10K and 5K race.  The start and finish was at the high school, which is so close to my house, I can hear the class bells during the day.  I can hear the marching band practicing and see the lights on the field during sporting events.   How could I not run this race?

The race started early.  It was called the “10K Dawn Run” and began at 8 a.m.  My friend, Marci came and parked at my house at 5:30 and we jogged to the race area for a nice little warm-up.  I had picked up my packet, but Marci had to register.

 

We didn’t wait long before we were ushered to the starting area.  The race was chip-timed, which was a pleasant surprise, considering that this is a relatively small local race.  If a little race like this can afford to do chip timing, there is no excuse for any bigger races not to do it.

Marci asked what my goal was and I wasn’t exactly sure.  I had only done three other 10k’s and one of them was the Nike+ Human Race.  My PR was from that Nike+ race (55 minutes and change) that was pretty much on the honor system, so it never really felt real.  I knew that I could PR with relative ease, since those races were in 2007 (my first race ever) and 2008.  I told her that I would like to run it at around an 8 minute pace, if possible.  She was good with that.  Before we knew it, we were off.

We started off running on the track and then out on a road I drive or run on all the time.  There were some rolling hills in the first few miles, which I love.  I haven’t run with a friend in a race in a very long time.  It was strange to run next to someone you run and chat with and not say a word.  I made some editorial comments hear and there.  I thanked volunteers and spectators.  At the first water station, it was obvious that the volunteers were pretty new at this.  They had some water poured, but they chatted with each other and didn’t hold the cups out at all.  It was only around mile 1, so no one seemed to mind.  I didn’t.  I did notice that the same girls were handing them out on the way back.  They must have figured it out by then.  The first two miles were 7:47 and 8:04—we were off to a good start.

After the second mile, the course started uphill.  The name of our community is Anaheim Hills, so it was no surprise.  I had run this road before and knew what to expect.  What I didn’t expect was that it turned up yet another, steeper, road before turning around.  There was a water stop at that turn and we grabbed water and stopped to walk while we drank it.  Marci said breathlessly, “I’m dying.”  We kept up that steepest part of the course toward the turnaround.  The only redeeming fact about that incline was that I knew that we got to run down it in a few minutes.  That third mile of the race was our slowest, by far: 8:47.

There was a very athletic blonde girl running ahead of us most of the race.  In my head, I wanted to pass her.  I knew she was younger than me, but she looked strong and I wanted to pass her.  As Marci and I flew down the hills in the fourth mile after the turn-around, we passed her.  I didn’t know whether or not Marci was competitive like me during races or I would have high-fived her.  But then I thought that might be rude.  It would have been premature, too.  When we reached the flatter terrain, she passed us again.  I’m glad I hadn’t been cocky.  The fourth mile, which is mostly downhill was 7:33.  The fifth mile was 8:08, just slightly slower than the same stretch of road in the beginning.

As we turned onto the track for the final stretch, I knew I had a bit more left.  I could see the tall blonde ahead of me.  Marci and I had run the entire race together, but I really wanted to sprint it in.  I picked it up and sprinted the final 200 meters.  I passed the blond!!  I ran across the finish line and saw 50:XX.  I was THRILLED.  That was five minutes off my previous PR.  The last mile was 8:01 and the final few hundred yards were run at a 7:03 pace!

Marci came in about fifteen seconds behind me.  She congratulated me for my strong finish and I was relieved that she wasn’t upset that I took off.  She told me that if she could have talked, she would have yelled, “Go, Lisa!!”  She also thanked me for passing the blonde.  LOL.  I knew she and I were good running mates!

Marci had to leave, but I stayed around to run the 5K with my sister-in-law, Kristi.  I had promised her to run next to her, to help her meet her goal for her second 5K.  She is very new to running and was pretty nervous.  I was looking forward to a nice cool down after the really tough 10K we had just run.

We started out the first mile a bit faster than I thought was wise for her goal, but she was all smiles and felt great.  I thought that maybe her goal (under 35 minutes) was too conservative for the extra running she had done.  I didn’t slow her down, but I did let her know what her pace was. 

By the time we hit the end of the second mile, I knew she was hurting a bit.  She stopped for a moment to walk and when her iPod froze, I thought for a moment, she was going to cry.  Luckily, that had happened to me before and I was able to reset it so she could continue to listen to her music.

We continued and I occasionally told her about the terrain or how much further we had.  When I told her that we were feet from turning into the track for the finish, she lit up.  She turned on the steam and really started going.  I am so proud that her last few hundred yards were run at the fastest pace of the day.  She really dug deep.  We crossed the finish line in 34:30!!!  She beat her goal by 30 seconds!!  She thanked me for pushing her, although she really just pushed herself.  I merely gave her information throughout the race to help her.
My family doesn’t usually come to my races.  It is tough to get the kids up that early and my husband gets stressed out trying to navigate all the logistics of finding Mommy.  He came down to my first two marathons and was totally bummed when he missed me at one of his viewing spots.  Since this one was so close, my husband brought the kids down to the race on their bikes. 

My biggest fans!

We waited for the awards because I had a feeling that I might win an age group award.  I had only counted four women in front of us and was pretty sure we both did pretty well.  I heard Marci’s name called as the winner of her age group.  Yippee!!  As they announced the winner for women 40-44, I thought I heard the winning time of 53:00!  What???  I had come in three minutes ahead of that.  I went and looked at the results, I wasn’t listed.  I was nearly in tears.

I went to the timing trailer to try to work it out.  There were a couple of other runners with the same problem.  There was a list that was posted right after the 10K that had me listed as the winner of my AG.  The timing official explained that when I stepped on the timing mat during the 5K, it erased my 10K time and gave me a new start time.  ACK!!!  Why didn’t I just take that dumb chip off and throw it away?  Luckily he was able to change my time based on what my Garmin said.  Unfortunately, he was only able give me my gun time instead of my chip time.  That changed my time from 50:23 to 50:42.  I was still the winner of my age group, but I went from 5th woman to 6th woman.  I didn’t care.  I won my very first division award!!!

Woo hoo!!  I’m the winner!

I was running for Team Jamba and there was a Jamba Juice tent.  I was so excited.  I was looking forward to helping to hand out samples, but the Jamba folks were selling smoothies instead of giving samples.  They were employees of the local store.  They also asked me to explain to people that they wouldn’t accept the coupons I was handing out.  It was a little bit of a letdown.  I still handed out a bunch of coupons and sent people to the Jamba Juice store across the street.



I was suppose to run around 15 miles on my training plan, but I was happy with 9 1/2 (with part of it a pretty tough tempo run).  I had another race on the schedule the next day…..  but that is another post.  ;-)   It was a great run and a great day!

Happy Running….

Three Races in Two Days

And the PR’s keep coming!!!  It has been a good couple of weeks for me.  First, my PR last week in the Villa Park 5K and then this past weekend I had double PR’s in a *10K and a **15K and an age group award!  I ran four races in eight days and feel strong.

This has been a crazy week and I haven’t had time to sit down and write up my race reports.  We are getting ready to take the kids camping for the first time and our home is a whirlwind of preparations.  We’ll be unplugged for a few days, so my race reports will be up next week some time.  While I’m gone, I am going to try to get a little altitude training in.  I will be running in Meb, Deena and Ryan territory…not to mention bears and mountain lions.  I am really hoping to spot the former rather than the latter (although seeing a bear would be kind of cool)!

Happy Running….

*Firecracker 10K/5K in Anaheim Hills

**Coronado 15K.